Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 957: Finding Others In The Nightmare

Alice froze.

What the Doctor wanted to achieve would earn him a set of black chains?

Then that meant his goals was something to bypass fate itself.

Perhaps the end goal of his research.

Even now, he was extremely difficult to kill, especially since he wouldn’t die even after she used everything to kill him.

Alice was about to reach for the cup when she paused.

If it’s an action that earns him black chains...

"It’s a trap huh?" Alice sighed.

"Oh? What makes you think that?" Monika tilted her head.

"Because earlier, when I tried to ask something regarding Nyer, your answer would’ve shifted the cogs. My choice would’ve changed and options would’ve been cut off as you mentioned." Alice narrowed her eyes.

"From sips to the rest of the cup. It’s clear the information is not something I should be finding out from you, otherwise you wouldn’t offer this kind of price. Cogs will shift the moment you tell me, and I doubt you can tell me that outright. Are the cups a method for you to give me hints?"

Just like Caelan who was giving her hints during their game of truth and lie, Monika was now giving hints through the cup of tea.

"So the moment I drink, it’s probably past the point of no return right?" Alice frowned.

"Pft ahahah~ Half and half little flame. It’s partially true that I’m giving you hints. But drinking that cup still has its benefits for me. I get to observe you~ And the price is equal to the payment. Which is why I don’t have a set of chains on me." Monika waved it off before nodding her head.

"Yes. If you chose to accept the offer, you would’ve gotten the information you wanted. But a hefty cost will be applied. The only hints you got was the fact that he would’ve earned the black chains and the cost of said information."

"What about lying by omission then? Didn’t you still tell me stuff partially and I managed to guess?"

Even though she was wary about Monika, they were technically allies at this moment.

And she mentioned the cogs hating half assed attempts at circumventing their rules.

Actions that would earn her chains.

"Ah erm... Monika... M-maybe y-you should tell A-Alice what you’ve b-been doing..." Plume murmured, poking her head out of the blanket.

"Shut up plume, I already allowed you to run away rather than hold the sign." Monika shot a glare at her as she let out a squeal and immediately dove back into her cover.

Monika tapped her chin, contemplating on how much she should be telling Alice.

How much should she reveal?

In the end, she shook her head.

"I think we’ll call it here. If I push my luck any more, not even the cogs will forgive me you know?" Monika chuckled, standing up.

"Ah! Wait I still-"

"You came here for me and plume right?" Monika held a finger over her lips.

"What you can’t get from me, you can get from her. Whether that be finding the location of Grand Cathia or your other friends." Monika waved her hand, recalling her staff.

With a single tap, she opened a door in front of her.

"But a fair warning from me." Monika paused before stepping through.

"Whatever you do, do not drop your guard down against your mirror."

Without waiting for Alice’s reply, Monika jumped through the door and disappeared.

Once she was alone, Monika wiped the sweat that was gathering on her forehead.

"Happy? I swear, if you didn’t want me to spoil things, you should’ve gave me hints earlier." She complained and lifted her sleeve.

The fragments of a chain that was midst of being created slowly crumbled apart. Had she stayed and gave Alice more information, she would’ve been tied up.

She thought she made adequate preparations by having Alice take sips of the tea in order to see her past and find out what she already knew. But even then, the details she gave was bordering on the line of what was and wasn’t allowed.

There was no response but Monika frowned.

"Alright alright, I get it. But what about you? Do you think you’ll be able to handle the fallout of your own actions? What about what you promised me? I hope you don’t forget that." Monika shrugged.

In that moment, a grin appeared on her face as she snapped her finger and the space around her began to distort. Whatever was contacting her was now forced out into the open.

The figure smiled and nodded his head.

"Don’t worry, you’ll get what you’re promised. An agreement was made for that exact purpose wasn’t it?" He chuckled.

"I’ll be a fool to listen to you. Especially when you’ve been actively cataloguing my actions to turn it into a tale." Monika rolled her eyes.

"Play with fire and you might get burned. I’m not going to help you if you get black chains placed upon you."

The man laughed, conjuring a book that was flipping through the pages.

"Don’t worry, even I know which stories are forbidden to read. The tale of Yvael Velcarion is one laced with every kind of poison imaginable. But for her fragments, such is not the case is it?"

The pages stopped as it landed on the Tale of Monika, one that was still being written.

"Sure sure~ Whatever you say buddy. Now you probably should get the f*ck out before my boss finds you." Monika created an exit for him.

Glancing back at the witch, Zal-Ka’ Rith gave her a bow and stepped away.

"Tch, pain in the ass kinda guy." Monika complained once he left.

###

"E-erm... D-don’t blame Monika. S-she’s got a lot on her mind." Plume poked her head out once Monika left.

As harsh as Monika was to her, Plume understood what Monika was like.

"Don’t worry, I’m not blaming her." Alice shook her head.

The information she received was plenty. And with Monika mentioning how she could get the coordinates from Plume, not having to drink that tea was preferred.

"So why were you punished? Were you not allowed to make a branch in here?" Alice asked curiously.

Scratching her cheek, Plume let out a sigh.

"It’s because i-it can’t be undone. This p-place was meant to be somewhat cut off." Crawling out of her cover, Plume walked over to the branch and poked it a few times.

"But because I made this thing, I’ve given it a set of coordinates, even if we move around. So she’s looking for a new place for me to stay later."

"Ah..." Alice felt guilty.

Plume only made this branch because she requested it.

If Monika didn’t want a set of coordinates to be placed here, it was probably for good reason. And yet, despite this mistake, she was still willing to share information with her.

"A-anyways you wanted the coordinates right?" Plume smiled, grabbing a chair so Alice could sit next to her in front of the Monitors.

"Monika mentioned how you’ll probably be looking for y-your friends. Erm... there are a few routes you can take s-since they’re spread out a little.

"D-do you have signatures of the p-people you’re looking for?" She asked.

Trying to find a few key individuals out of everyone was going to be pretty difficult after all.

Alice furrowed her brows.

"One of them is my twin. Our signatures should be similar. She also shares my looks. The other is a soul that’s been contracted to me so we should also have a link. As for the third... he’s a doctor. We don’t really have a link unfortunately."

"I-I think I can find the first two then... B-but the third might be hard. There’s nothing for me to p-pinpoint."

"Just do your best. Don’t worry about it if you can’t." Alice reassured. It was a rather hard request to complete after all.

So if Plume couldn’t do it, Alice wasn’t going to blame her.

Nodding her head nervously, Plume took several deep breaths to calm her mind but didn’t start.

"Erm... C-can you sit a bit further away? M-maybe where I can’t see you. Erm... I can’t work with someone near me." Plume asked as she became a shivering mess.

Nodding her head, Alice sat as far as she could.

"S-Sorry! I can feel your eyes on me..." Plume wanted to cry. She knew Alice wasn’t doing it on purpose but she couldn’t calm down.

"Can I borrow your blanket then?" Alice smiled helplessly.

Plume nodded her head.

Only once Alice covered her head and stopped looking at Plume did she finally calm down.

With no one observing her, she eventually stopped shaking.

Her eyes became focused and the screens began to flash.

Her finger controlled the cameras, which nightmare was being observed, what zones was on display.

Alice snuck a glance, not at Plume but at the flickering screens and paused.

The amount of information she was flicking through was immense.

Several screens flashing all at once as her eyes scanned everything before moving onto the next.

Each one only lingered for a split moment before being dismissed.

Even when using the connections as a basis, trying to trace a single thread in this sea of Nightmare wasn’t easy.

But Plume was handling the information with ease.

In mere moments, one screen was plucked and flicked aside to be saved for now.

On that screen, Alice could see Alyss killing the monsters around her with ease.

One was found immediately, now it was Cayla’s turn.

It was probably harder considering the fact that she was much deeper in the Nightmare.

Yet after a few pauses, another screen was plucked out.

With these two done, Plume continued to work and the last series of screens were extracted.

Letting out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding, Plume glanced back and froze upon seeing Alice with her head out.

"Ah! E-erm... Ahh... This..." She started tripping over her words in anxiousness. She wanted to dive back into her blanket but realised that wasn’t an option.

Before her brain could shut down, Alice tossed the blanket over as Plume let out a sigh of relief. Finally back in her comfort zone, she smiled happily.

"T-these are the ones I could f-find. I-if you want the doctor, you c-could bring something with h-his signature next time."

Nodding her head, Alice turned her attention to the screens.

All that was left to do was find a way to connect to these zones using a Guide’s authority.